EthenTica ethenticator USB 2500 REVIEW date: 06.12.01
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$ 130 list. LAKE Forest, CA; 877-660-5353; www.ethentica.com
$ 130.00
By Sally Wiener Grotta
Two of Ethentica's fingerprint scanners, the Ethentica Ethenticator USB 2500 for desktops and the Ethentica Ethenticator MS 3000 for laptops, include SecureSuite, an easy-to-use and full-featured authentication program bundled with other fingerprint scanners. The software is good, but we Prefer Packages from DigitalPersona and Sony.
The Ethenticator is the largest, strangest-shaped device we tested: It's a large, tricolor unit that looks like a tongue, as tall as a coffee mug It's stable and extremely comfortable in the way it fits the hand The design lets it serve.. As a thumb scanner; for the other finger, IT Will Automatical Rotate a print to match the template's orientation.
Ethentica's products use the company's proprietary TactileSense technology, which requires the electric field of a living person to activate. So a nonliving finger is likely to be rejected, claims the company (let's just say it's been tried). These devices have no internal encryption ( it's done in software), and enrolling users took some trying. On our tests, the Ethenticator had a low enrollment success rate of 83 percent but an excellent verification success rate of 95 percent, so once people are enrolled, they will not need to Retry logging on habitually.
The included SecureSuite software can be used as a standalone desktop package for individual PCs or as a gateway to a network. With SecureSuite, you can set the system to authenticate via a finger, a password, or both. It's easy to install and use and lets you train the software to fill in forms, log-ons, and dialogs for you.The package lets a PC administrator manage users and set access privileges to one of four levels, though you'll need the server component (around $ 1,000) to Centralize The Biometrics Information; Without IT, Any Biometrics Data Remains on The Client Computer.